The state Department of Transportation's proposed redesign of Route 9 in Westchester County prioritizes motorists and even backtracks on community-driven designs that would give cyclists a fair shake, advocates up and down the lower Hudson Valley say.
The current draft plan for redoing the highway-like spine of the so-called "river towns" makes minor improvements for pedestrians and connects sidewalks and safety features for people crossing. But cyclists don't get the same treatment, with a design that relies heavily on sharrows — aka the "chevrons of death" — that force cyclists to share lanes with cars or ride on the sidewalk.
And in Tarrytown, a Devil's compromise was reached between local and state officials: the busy, downtown junction between Franklin and Wildey streets will remain dangerous.
Cyclists don't have a protected bike lane available, but approaching downtown Tarrytown on U.S. Route 9, they at least have more lanes to contend with or a wider shoulder that provides some breathing room. Between Franklin and Wildey streets, they find a two-lane road where they need to somehow squeeze themselves between traffic and parked cars, ride on the sidewalk or cycle within the lane on a route that is both busy and prone to speeding.
An older draft for the redesign would have at least included sharrows for the stretch, but to preserve parking, that was nixed.
The shortcomings of the plan are definitely not in keeping with the state's scoping plan, which promised that "Route 9 will be a safe, reliable and comfortable corridor for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds ... that promotes active and healthy communities."
Daniel Convissor of Bike Tarrytown told Streetsblog that he's worried the redesign will discourage cyclists from traveling the route, or worse, leave them in peril if they do.
"We want people to be able to get around without driving. We want to reduce the number of motor vehicles in the corridor. We want it to be safe for everybody, so that they don't have to drive," Convissor said. "Look at the vision statement for the project, and that's what the villagers wanted. We felt it fell short."
The project is crucial because the booming popularity of the shared-use path on the Mario Cuomo (forever the Tappan Zee) Bridge revealed just how dangerous Route 9 is for cyclists.
The plan
The state's draft plan breaks the 4.7-mile corridor into five distinct, village-level sections addressing major intersections:
- In Sleepy Hollow (formerly North Tarrytown), the focus is on installing roundabouts at major intersections such as Beekman Avenue.
- The Tarrytown plan concentrates on road diets, reduced lanes and improving traffic signals near the central business district.
- In Irvington, the plan proposes consistent sidewalk and bicycle facilities to improve continuity.
- In Dobbs Ferry, the redesigns target high-crash areas, particularly the complex intersection at Ashford Avenue.
- In Hastings-on-Hudson, the southernmost section, there will be signal modernization and creating shared-use paths to manage traffic flow through its commercial core.
State transportation officials said the plan is only a draft and the final project design would address the concerns of advocates and community members.
"The Department is reviewing public comments and expects to release final recommendations in the coming months," the agency said in a statement.
This wait-and-see approach is galling to those who recall deaths in recent years along U.S. Route 9. In 2023, senior citizens Nelida Distante and Patrick Kennedy were killed within months of each other by car drivers in Tarrytown. Anthony Napoli was also killed in 2022.
